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Advantages and disadvantages of taking big risks
Advantages and disadvantages of risk
Advantages and disadvantages of risk
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Why Humans Take Risk In life many of us will come to a fork in the road, finding ourselves having to make a choice that consist of staying on the safe route or taking the more risky path. Of course there is always the fear of failure and what ifs, but there is also the chance of achieving our dreams and so much more. Chris McCandless and Ben Saunders life were anything but ordinary. Both individuals had this strong desire to take risk and often found themselves in difficult situations. However what we have to ask ourselves is if these risk are justified? When we take risk and step outside of our comfort zone and challenge ourselves we open doors to many opportunities in life and often discovery a lot about ourselves along the way. The book …show more content…
Even though McCandless did not survive his trip into the Alaskan wild he made a very important revelation about life and himself before he died. He read many books during his time stranded in the wild, one book in particular that had several notes in the margins and a lot of underlined passages was the book Doctor Zhivago (Krakauer 188). He circled “refuge in nature” right next to another passage that said “and so it turned out that only a life similar to the life of those around us, merging with it without a ripple, is genuine life, and that an unshared happiness is not happiness...And this was most vexing of all” he noted, “HAPPYNESS ONLY REAL WHEN SHARED” (krakauer 189). It is believed that this passages meaning was that McCandless was perhaps ready to live a life not in solitude anymore and when he returned back to society he was going to stop being afraid of intimacy and become a member in the community. Even though McCandless did not survive his adventure, he discovered the importance of sharing happiness with the people we surround our lives with. He also discovered before he most likely died on August 18, 112 days after he entered the wild that he had a truly happy life. Evidence for this belief is because on the other side of Robinson Jeffer 's poem “Wise Men in Their Bad Hours” he wrote “I HAVE HAD A HAPPY LIFE AND THANK THE LORD. GOODBYE AND MAY GOD BLESS ALL” (Krakauer 199). As well as Ben Saunders, who also seemed to discover a lot about himself on his trek across the vast Arctic Ocean. For instance, he says that “it seems to me, therefore, that the doing, you know, to try to experience, to engage, to endeavor, rather than to watch and to wonder, that 's where the real meat of life is to be found, the juice that we can suck out of our hours and days.” He also goes on to compare his polar expositions with a crack
In His last moments of life he realized that his actions brought him to his doom and that “HAPPINESS ONLY REAL WHEN SHARED. (Krakauer 189)” McCandless set out into the wild for the adventure of a lifetime, only to find that the feelings and
“I have had a happy life and thank the Lord. Goodbye and may God bless all!”(199), these were the last words of Chris McCandless in a picture with him smiling and waving good-bye. Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer is an extension of an article first published in Outside magazine. In the book, Krakauer further explains the journey of Chris McCandless, while providing his own insight to provide the reader a better understanding of the McCandless reasoning. McCandless lived a nomadic life after he graduated from college, traveling from South Dakota to Mexico. However, his two year journey proved fatal when he took a trip to Alaska, his greatest undertaking. Among his remains several books were discovered, including a copy of Walden by Henry D. Thoreau
In one the passage was highlighted in the book “Family Happiness” that Chris brought with, the author Leo Tolstoy talked about how a person's life should be. “I wanted movement and not a calm course of existence. … which found no outlet in our quiet life.” (p.15) Tolstoy explained how a life should be excited and interesting not just living day by day without any enjoyment. Chris followed his beliefs. He believes that he should live a life that he would not regret later on. That could be one of his reason he was going into the wild to make an excited life. Another passage was also found with McCandless’s belongings is from Henry David Thoreau’ “Walden”. “All nature is your congratulation, and you have cause momentarily to bless yourself. … a segment of the rainbow which I have clutched.” (p.47) This passage explains the fact that happiness can found in nature. McCandless wanted to found his purpose of his life and Thoreau stated about the importance of the nature. And McCandless believed Thoreau. If Chris McCandless had believed some authors, he would follows that in his whole
Throughout the novel, Christopher McCandless’s character changed over time. Up to McCandless’s death, he wanted to live with the wild and to be away from civilization as far as possible. He changes his mind when he writes “HAPPINESS ONLY REAL WHEN SHARED” (189). His purpose of living in the wild is to live with freedom and do whatever he wishes to do. However, he realizes he was a “refuge in nature” (189) and intended to abandon his solitary life and rejoin the human community. It is assumed that McCandless died a preventable death because of his unpreparedness, but it is now undeniable that his adversity is what caused his mortality. “…McCandless simple had the misfortune to eat moldy seeds. An innocent mistake, it was nevertheless sufficient to end his life” (194). Had he not eaten the moldy seeds, he would have remained alive to tell the tale.
... the milky crisp mountains of Alaska, it was everything he imagined it to be. However his burgeoning haplessness ended in the tragedy of his death. Though he abated in a world of reverie, he found enough energy to say his impeccable goodbyes to his loved ones and family. McCandless like a judge in the Supreme Court of the United States was justified in the absence of attending his life with his family and was not a fool for doing so. Though his incredible journey ended in demise, it was a feat for him and all of those who loved him. To quote Henry David Thoreau , “I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
McCandless practiced reducing dependence on property, self-reliance, and non-conformity. Chris McCandless made a Transcendental journey to Alaska in 1992, that led to his unfortunate demise. Towards the month of his death in August, McCandless began to realize that being alone in the wild, self-reliant, and detached from society was not making him happy. His highlighted passages from Family Happiness by Leo Tolstoy indicate this same notion. Chris McCandless’ journey is a thing one can reflect upon to see how one could live the Transcendalist lifestyle, but how it takes a toll on one’s
Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild, describes the adventure of Christopher McCandless, a young man that ventured into the wilderness of Alaska hoping to find himself and the meaning of life. He undergoes his dangerous journey because he was persuade by of writers like Henry D. Thoreau, who believe it is was best to get farther away from the mainstreams of life. McCandless’ wild adventure was supposed to lead him towards personal growth but instead resulted in his death caused by his unpreparedness towards the atrocity nature.
You can write novels, poems, and short stories about it, but you’ll never truly understand the beauty of life until you experience it for yourself, until you immerse yourself in it. Every person has their own set of wants, needs, and desires. But it isn’t until you go out and do the things that you’ve imagined, that you really discover what you love. Every person has a unique mind; every person has the capacity to share different views. If you asked every person in the entire world what they believe the meaning of life is, you would receive several answers. Many would be different, but most would say something to the effect of “living a happy, healthy life.” Because we’re all so different, our own definitions of happiness are bound to differ from the next person. Christopher Mccandless' definition of happiness would have been simple. He wanted to find himself, who he really was deep down. In Into the Wild(1997) by Jon Krakauer, Mccandless didn't want to be the person his parents or society expected him to be, he instead wanted the rawness of life itself; and in order to achieve this, he left everything behind and ventured from place to place, eventually ending in Alaska. In chapter 17, Mccandless is compared to naval officer Sir John Franklin because some claim McCandless "lacked a requisite humility" and "possessed insufficient respect for the land." With these claims in consideration, McCandless is a young man who is arrogant because he is reckless and stubborn; however, he is also humble because he is gentle and kind.
Chris McCandless was a young man who gave up his belongings to live in the wild away from society, and his journey was to find fulfillment and the meaning of life through nature. In the nonfiction book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, Krakauer writes about the details of Chris McCandless’s journey to find and reinvent himself as he lives off the land in the Alaskan wilderness. Throughout the book, Krakauer portrays McCandless as a hero for rejecting society and falling victim to this bravery. However, Chris McCandless’s death is not an example of heroism and he did not fall victim to his courage. Instead, McCandless died as a result of ignorance and overconfidence that clouded his self-perception and ultimately led to his downfall.
Chris McCandless is regarded as being something as a spiritual figure almost as a cult hero, some call him a disillusioned fool, some call him a great adventurer, and the debate still continues. As Matthew Power calls in his article, an article where he tells the story of McCandless,“The debate falls into two camps: Krakauer's visionary seeker, the tragic hero who dared to live the unmediated life he had dreamed of and died trying; or, as many Alaskans see it, the unprepared fool, a greenhorn who had fundamentally misjudged the wilderness he'd wanted so desperately to commune with.” Like so many stories covering Christopher McCandless’ death, both ends of the argument are discussed in an unfavored manner in the hopes to help develop an opinion on the McCandless story. This open ended question can only be answered open-endedly based on what the readers base for themselves as covered stories intend. Like Power has done, ...
... in his attempt to run away from himself, he was unable to truly escape Christopher McCandless. And although he was not truly successful in running away from his identity, McCandless appeared to succeed in running away from society and running away from the predictability of what life would bring. Departing from the heavy burdens he found in his society, his life, and the world was the only way McCandless seemed to truly be happy and he did just that. He let go of his worrying and concern and focused on bettering himself by connecting with nature. Eventually, McCandless realized that happiness is only real when it is shared (189) but without running away from society and the people who cared about him, he would not have stumbled upon that realization.
In 1990, when he was 22 years old, Christopher McCandless ventured out into the Alaska wilderness in search for true happiness, and 2 years later he suffered a tragic death. An aspiring writer, Jon Krakauer, found McCandless’ story fascinating and chose to dedicate 3 years of his life to write a novel about him. The book entitled “Into the Wild” tells the tale of Christopher McCandless, an ill prepared transcendentalist longing for philosophical enrichment, who naïvely, failed to consider the dangers of isolating himself from human society for such a long period of time. Though Christopher McCandless made a courageous attempt to separate himself from society, in order to achieve self-fulfillment, the stubborn nature of this reckless greenhorn led him to his unfortunate demise.
I am adventurous. No I don't sky dive, wrestle crocodiles, or swim with sharks, but when asked by a group of friends to go cliff diving last summer, my best response was, “Sounds like fun!” I had never been afraid of heights yet have never experienced the thrill of cliff diving. All I could ask myself was, “What could go wrong?”
I should receive a passing grade in this class because I can write now. Not just an exaggeration, but after another semester of English I finally feel confident that can write. Three of the reasons behind my confidence is I learned, I experienced and best of all I repeated. These three values helped prepare me for what is in store in English 1302 and here is why.
Roe v. Wade: the Supreme Court case legalizing a woman's right to choose abortion has been around our entire lives. In 27 years, memories of back alley clinics have faded - the past is past, right? Wrong. It's too soon to start taking reproductive freedoms for granted. The next president will appoint two or three Supreme Court justices, potentially changing the Court's position on this pivotal case. George W. Bush supports the Republican call for a constitutional amendment outlawing abortions; do you think he, if elected, would appoint pro-choice justices? And why is it that while the majority of Americans support choice, the majority of Congress votes anti-choice? Are we supposed to just stand by and watch as the government tries to legislate our bodies?